The Dreaded Chair Seat

Hey guys! Long time no blog, so I thought I'd pull together a short post on what I and a lot of other riders struggle with - the dreaded chair seat. 

You may ask - what is the chair seat? Well, the name is sort of self-explanatory. In horse riding, a chair seat is when your leg slides too far forward and you sit too far backwards in the saddle, until you look like you're sitting on a chair instead of riding a horse. 

The chair seat disrupts the ear-shoulder-hip-heel line of balance that a rider should aim for by placing too much weight in the seat and not enough in the heels, which is why people with a chair seat also have the tendency for their heels to slip up. I know I definitely struggle with this problem, except in a different way from most - most chair seats will be accompanied with a tendency to lean too far backwards in the saddle, but for me it's the opposite. Too much jumping has caused me to "perch" and lean forwards, and I really struggle with tucking my hips underneath me and sitting deep. This "perching" position has thrown my centre of gravity forwards, making my leg slip forwards as well to compensate.

So, how do we fix the chair seat? 

I believe that the problem stems from not the leg, but the seat - if you sit correctly in the saddle, then your leg should find a more correct position by itself. If you're sitting correctly, you should be able to feel your seat bones on the horse, so experiment with shifting your seat forwards and backwards until you can feel your seat bones sort of "connect" with the horse's back. I'm still working on my seat, and I constantly have to remind myself to tuck my hips underneath me and lean backwards to create a more balanced position. I have found that by doing this, it is easier for my leg to stay underneath me and for my heels to stay down. 

If you don't think your problem stems from your seat, it may be that your knees are the problem - if you close your knees too much around the saddle, they create a block in your flow of balance and cause your lower leg to swing around. Think about opening your hips and your knees - this should help move your leg backwards so it is touching the horse's side. 

Sometimes, you just need to put your leg into the correct position and focus with all your might on making it stay there. Fixing your seat and leg position isn't a quick process - it takes a lot of hours in the saddle to change your muscle memory and adjust your position. It helps a lot if you can have someone watch you ride and tell you every time your lower leg moves forwards, as sometimes you can be unaware that you've slipped into a chair seat yet again. 

As I've stated, I'm still working on fixing my chair seat, so here are a lot of articles that have helped me a lot with my leg position and my position in general:

- Correcting Riding Problems- Legs: http://www.themanestreet.com/authors/lauramartlock/training/legs.htm

(DEFINITELY recommend reading this one!)

- 15 Exercises to Correct Common Riding Problems: http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/article/15-exercises-to-correct-common-riding-problems-30090

(the section on improving your leg position is quite helpful)

- 10 Time-Tested Rider Position Fixes: http://practicalhorsemanmag.com/article/10-time-tested-rider-position-fixes

- The Importance of the Lower Leg: http://www.tanjamitton.com/the-importance-of-the-lower-leg/

And some stretches to help you open your hips if (like me) your closed hips cause your knees to grip the saddle:

- http://www.popsugar.com.au/fitness/Basic-Stretches-Tight-Hips-37847972

- http://www.prevention.com/fitness/12-yoga-poses-to-open-your-hips

Hope this helps! Happy riding!

Rachel. 

Storytime Saturday #4: Fear of a horse

A few months ago I was riding a horse called Splash, and while my first ride with him was amazing from there it took a bit of a plummet. See, Splash was a very forward and spooky horse but also quite strong, and in the wrong circumstances it was a bit of a disastrous combination. 
During my second ride on him, he bolted around everywhere and simply wouldn't listen to me. He ran through my hands, spooked at corners, and was completely out of control. My third ride was similar, with him consistently running off and spooking at a farrier working nearby. It gave me a really helpless feeling, and I suddenly became aware of how big horses were and how easily Splash could seriously injure me if he wanted to.
I want to make it clear that I actually love forward horses. I would choose a forward and spooky horse over a lazy/stubborn one any day. However something about Splash made him different from all the other forward horses I've ridden. Even though he wasn't particularly big, he was so unpredictable and I felt like he could do anything and I wouldn't be able to stop him. And after those horrible rides on him he became the first and to this day only horse that I was truly scared of riding.
This continued in a cycle for my next few rides with him - I would be scared as soon as I got on him, he would run through my hands and ignore my aids, and both of us had had a bad experience by the end of the ride.
But one lesson, after seeing how frightened I'd gotten, my instructor rode Splash before me to get rid of some of his energy. She took him out for a gallop and when I got on him, he was a completely different horse. He was quiet, respectful, and at times I actually had to urge him forward instead of constantly trying to pull him back. That ride really changed my perspective of Splash; the next time I rode him I was no longer frightened of him and from there things only got better. 

I don't ride Splash much anymore, but by the end we were working really nicely together and, above all, he taught me so much. What I realized was that me being scared of him was honestly the one thing holding me back, which sounds cheesy but is completely true. When I rode him, instead of thinking rationally about how to address his problems, I had a constant death-grip on the reins. Instead of giving him a chance to improve, from the second I got on him I was anticipating his bolt and spook, making me very tense and only furthering the issue.
It's easier said than done, but try going into every ride with a fresh mind. If you don't think about the time when you fell off your horse, or when you had a completely terrible ride on them, you'll find yourself having a much more constructive ride.  

Rachel.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year, everyone! I hope everyone had an amazing 2015, and I wish you all the best of luck for the year coming :)

For me 2015 was a bit of an interesting year, and quite difficult in terms of horse riding. I spoke about it a bit in Storytime Saturday: Frustration, but I'll reflect on it a little more here. When you start getting into the higher levels of horse riding, it's easy to become overly critical of your own riding and frustrated at all your mistakes and flaws. This is something that plagued a lot of my riding this year, especially as I felt that I wasn't making a lot of progress while everyone around me was advancing. At the beginning of the year, I had a new instructor who, in hindsight, was really quite awful. He was very critical of my riding and my position, but at the same time told me nothing on how I could fix it. I think that he was a reason my self-esteem took a bit of a plummet, and it didn't help that I wasn't able to get out to the stables as much because of school work.

However thankfully things took a change for the better as the year continued. At around May this year that instructor left, and was replaced by my current instructor who is honestly the best coach I've ever had (and I've been through a couple). She doesn't just tell me to do things - she tells me the precise reason why I should do things, explaining the functions of my aids in a whole new way to me. It is with her that I've become a more technical rider, and with the closing of this year I feel like I'm finally making progress again. Recently I've been having some amazing rides and I'm thankful that I'm able to end 2015 on a good note.

This year I went through a lot of obstacles, but I feel like it was a character development year. I've sorted through my problems and am on the road to improvement, and I have a feeling things are only going to get better from here.
So, I'll end this post by saying: 2016, come at me! 

Rachel.

 

When to Change Barns

Changing barns can be tricky - take it from someone like me, who's switched barns three times since I started riding. Leaving behind your barn friends, instructors, and favorite horses can be incredibly difficult, however sometimes you just gotta do it. 

Thanks, Shia

The reason for this is that horse riding is an incredibly complex sport, and if your current barn doesn't a) have the right horses for you to progress on, b) the right instructors to help you along, or c) the best facilities for you, then it's probably time to move. 
Sometimes it can be about atmosphere - your barn has too much drama, is too competitive, isn't friendly enough, etc. However, in all of my cases, it's been about experience and what a barn can teach me. 
See, when you first start horse riding you'll probably be one of the worst riders at your barn with the least experience. You'll have people to look up to and people you can learn from, and you'll start climbing the ranks until you too become one of the experienced people. Life will be great, for a while. But then, what happens most of the time is you'll run into a bit of a wall. You'll have long periods of frustration where you just don't progress, where your lessons go over things you already know and you feel like you're learning nothing. Because while being one of the best riders at your barn can be great, it also means that eventually you'll hit the limit of what that barn can teach you and it's time to move on.
You may ask, what if I don't want to move? What if, even though I am not progressing as much as I could be, I am having loads of fun at my barn and don't want to leave? And I say, that's fine, but you have to make a decision about what type of rider you want to be. Do you want to be a hobby rider, who rides purely for fun, or do you want to be a more competitive rider, constantly improving and challenging yourself? If you want to be a hobby rider, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Feel free to stay at whichever barn you're most comfortable at and have a blast! But if, like me, you fall into the second group of riders, then at some point you are probably going to have to move barns, and while it can be difficult, it is essential to becoming a better rider. It can be fun to be the most experienced rider in your lessons, but ultimately you will learn more from being worse than everyone else than you will from being better. 
Different barns also have different things to teach you, and in horse riding it's always good to have a wide variety of skills and methods. For example, my last barn was very jumping orientated but not very technical. My current barn is all about learning the nitty gritty bits of riding, and while that is better for me right now, the experience and practice I got from jumping at my old barn has been invaluable. 
So, if you are a competitive rider and think it's time to change barns, don't hesitate. Just do it!

Rachel.

Trot to Canter Transitions- how to master them

For the longest time, I really struggled with my trot to canter transitions. While it is easy to get your horse to go from walk to trot, trot to canter is exponentially harder. It can be incredibly frustrating when you keep on kicking and kicking but your horse just won't canter, so in this post I'm going to try and help out all of you who have been having trouble.

First off, for a good trot to canter transition, you need a solid sitting trot. I've already done a post on the sitting trot, which I would advise you to read if you have trouble with it, but really the key to the sitting trot is relaxation and practice. It's not something that you can magically fix in 10 minutes - achieving a good sitting trot takes a lot of time, so be patient with yourself!
Secondly, this post will primarily be focusing on canter transitions when riding in a circle. So if you aren't riding in a circular shape, your aids and such will be slightly different to what I talk about, but hopefully I can give you a good sense of the basics.
Lastly, this post is going to get quite a bit more technical than previous posts, so sorry if it gets a bit confusing! I'll try my best to explain everything as well as I possibly can.

The first thing you need to understand is that going from trot to canter is not the same as going faster. If you've had trouble with your canter transitions, you'll know that the main problem is your horse just trots faster instead of going into canter. This isn't because your horse is being lazy/naughty, it's because your horse doesn't realize what you're asking of them. If you just kick and kick, your horse will think that you want them to trot faster, and while they may canter eventually, this isn't a correct transition and it's a lot more exhausting for you and the horse. This is why it's important to learn to ask your horse correctly, so your horse knows exactly what you want them to do instead of you giving them mixed signals. 
This leads me into what I believe to be the three most important things when asking for a transition - preparation, balance, and precision. I'll go into all of these in more detail soon, but first, let me tell you how I do my trot to canter transitions.

1. Make sure your horse has a nice, forward trot. This doesn't mean that your horse is trotting extremely fast with no control, it means that your horse has impulsion and is moving forward willingly. 
2. Go into your sitting trot so you can more effectively use your seat.
3. Give a half-halt (a small squeeze) on the outside rein (remember to keep the contact with both your reins). 
4. Move your outside leg back while keeping your inside leg near the girth.
5. Squeeze/kick with your legs depending on how sensitive your horse is. Ideally, your horse should canter almost immediately. 

Now, let's talk about why I do all of those steps by going through the three things I said before - preparation, balance, and precision.

Preparation: It's really important to give yourself and your horse a good preparation to make things as easy for the both of you as possible. Think of it - if your horse is being lazy, isn't listening to you, and you're having a really hard time keeping them in the trot, are you going to be able to get them to canter? Probably not. Even if you do steps 2-5 perfectly, if your horse isn't listening to you, you aren't going to get a good transition. This is why preparation and step 1 are so important. When you are warming up before you canter, really spend time making sure that your horse is being attentive and has enough impulsion that you feel like you could easily ask for them to canter.
Preparation is also really important for the rider themselves so they can adequately perform steps 2-5. Before you try a canter transition, make sure you're balanced and organized and your life will be so much easier.

Balance: Balance is always important in horse riding, but it is especially important when changing from one gait to another. Trot to canter transitions are quite hard work for a horse, and if they're asked to do one while they're unbalanced it's quite difficult for them - it's like standing on a balance beam and being told to do a handstand when you're about to fall off. 
Let's talk about riding in a circle for a second. Ideally, your horse will have a bit of an inside bend, like this:

However, this can also cause your horse to lean in its inside shoulder, thus making them unbalanced. Enter step 3: your reins can be used to balance your horse in more ways then one. So, give your outside rein a squeeze to put their weight back onto their outside shoulder. This also tells your horse that something is coming up and to pay attention, and makes sure your horse picks up the right canter lead because it blocks the outside shoulder from moving forward. Then, make sure you keep the contact in both reins during your transition - if you give your horse lots of rein, they're just going to go faster and become strung out, which we don't want. Instead, keep a steady contact so your horse can stay steady and balanced and have a (hopefully) immediate transition.

Precision: Remember how I said to make sure your horse knows what you're asking of them? This is where precision comes into play. Step 4 is all about making the horse understand that you want to do a canter transition, not do a faster trot. Instead of you just kicking with both legs in the normal position, the sliding back of the outside leg differentiates you asking for a canter transition from you asking to go faster. Then, give a clear squeeze/kick with your legs, and hopefully your trot to canter transition will happen without fault.
However, if you do these steps half heartedly, your horse isn't going to get the memo. Be precise with everything you do, making sure that all of your aids are clear enough and aren't messy and giving your horse mixed messages. This step can be a bit difficult if you, the rider, are not used to doing trot to canter transitions, but things will come with time and practice, so try not to get too frustrated with yourself if you can't get it the first time!

Those are all my tips and tricks for how to get a good trot to canter transition :) I hope that I helped you out in some way and I wasn't too confusing. Remember, everyone has different things that work for them, so you don't need to follow my steps exactly - feel free to tweak a few!

Rachel.

Storytime Saturday #3: Frustration

Hey guys,
So, today I wanted to talk about something that I had been struggling a lot with recently and have only just gotten over. I love horses (obviously) and before recently there had never really been a time when I hadn't wanted to go to the barn. I was always itching to go, and horse riding was the highlight of my day.
But recently, that sort of changed. I ran into a bit of a wall with horse riding, and I wasn't really making that much progress. When I rode, I never really achieved the things that I wanted to achieve and I came back from rides feeling sort of down for that reason. I suddenly wasn't really looking forward to it anymore. Horse riding turned into a lot more work and a lot less fun.
Not to say that I didn't still love horses - I did, and I still do. It's just, riding wasn't the highlight of my day anymore, and I didn't know how to change that. I felt really frustrated, because horses were practically my life. They were who I am. If I didn't love horse riding anymore, where would that leave me?
I thought a few things over. Maybe I should take a break? Maybe I should just go on a few relaxing trail rides? Maybe I had just outgrown horse riding, and it wasn't for me anymore.
But, just the other week, I had a really fantastic ride. Everything in that ride seemed to go right, and suddenly I was back in the game. It was as simple as that. Having a good ride made me remember why I loved horses so much.
And, in hindsight, I know that I didn't really fall out of love with horse riding. It was just a combination of
a) continually riding difficult horses. While they helped improve me as a rider, they also made my rides really exhausting and I could never really focus on myself and achieving my own personal goals
b) constantly switching to new instructors because my old one left and they are still finding a replacement.
and c) criticizing myself too much and focusing too much on the things I was doing wrong instead of the things I was doing right.

I guess what I'm trying to say with this mildly cheesy rant is that horse riding is an extremely complex sport where it is very easy to frustrate yourself because you aren't doing little things correctly. You don't have enough control, your heels won't stay down in your transitions, your leg isn't secure enough, your hands are not soft enough, your horse refuses to accept the bit - these are all problems that I've had in the past and sometimes, they are very hard to overcome, and this can make you extremely frustrated. However, it's also really important to just relax every once in a while, to have a good ride and just have fun. Because horse riding is a fun sport, and that was something that I was forgetting.

Rachel.

The importance of flat work and common jumping errors

I love to jump. Jumping has got to be my favorite thing to do on horseback. And sometimes, when compared to jumping, flat work can seem kind of...boring. However, all of the foundations of riding are developed on the flat, so it is very important to do consistent flat work training to work on your riding errors instead of just jumping all the time.
A common phrase in the equestrian world is that jumping is flat work with speed-bumps. And it's true- without a solid position on the flat you will never produce the results you would like when jumping a course. Jumping is fun, yes, but when you jump all of your position errors are emphasized, and those errors can be very dangerous to both you and your horse.
Common example: many riders think that if they can walk, trot and canter semi-functionally, then they are ready to jump. However, being able to walk, trot and canter isn't enough. The rider must be BALANCED, with a strong position and a steady flow of weight into their legs. Remember my two point position post? If not, have a read through it. The position that I talk about, the ideal two point position, can only be obtained by a balanced rider with a solid foundation on the flat. Without a solid two point position, your jumping is seriously compromised, and the way to gain that position is going back to flat work.
Common errors in rider's jumping positions:

• The swinging leg: if, when you go over a jump, your leg swings backwards, go back to the flat. Chances are, when you canter on the flat, your leg swings as well. You may also be bracing against the stirrup when you jump, causing your leg to go backwards. All of these things mean that you have a weak leg. If you continue jumping with a weak, swinging leg, you could really hurt yourself or your horse, especially when the jumps get bigger. To fix this problem and strengthen your leg, do lots of no stirrup work. Do lots of two point on the flat as well, really making your weight flow down into your heels.
• Hanging onto the mouth: some inexperienced riders tend to pull on their horses mouth as they go over the jump, bracing on the horses mouth to balance. What this means is that they are an unbalanced rider. They cannot balance themselves through their seat and their legs, so instead they hang onto their horses mouth to stay on the horse. To fix this problem, go back to the flat. Do lots of flat work until you have an independent seat and you don't need to use your horse to balance. You can also take lunge lessons with no reins, which will really teach you to balance with just your seat.
• The big bang: if you suffer from "the big bang" (fantastic name, I know) it means that you'll go into two point just fine when your horse goes over the jump, but when he lands, you'll land heavily on his back with a big bang. It's unpleasant for both you and your horse, and it means that all your weight is in your seat instead of in your heels. To fix this problem, go back to the flat (are you noticing a common theme here?). Really work on getting your weight into your feet and getting your heels down. A good exercise for this is to do two point on the flat.

Basically, what I'm trying to say with all this is that flat work is important. Don't dismiss flat work once you start jumping and just jump every time you get on your horse. Save some time for flat work too- yes, it doesn't give the same thrill as jumping, but it is important nonetheless. If you don't have clean transitions, a good position, clear, effective aids and impulsion on the flat, then when you jump you really won't get the same results as a rider that does. Take some dressage lessons, work on your position, and then go back to jumping and you will be surprised at how much better you feel.

Thanks for dealing with my semi-rant, and sorry for not posting, like, at all. I've been really busy with school and riding and just life in general, so while I might not post as much, I promise I'll come back every once in a while to make a little post :)

Rachel.